


Paint My Soul

by Firespark919



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Body Painter Keith, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith has like 20 piercings, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Lance is Keith's muse, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Rating May Change, Slow Burn, body painter au, but not too slow, college student lance, how do you even tag, idk - Freeform, klance, no angst i promise, not like this but whatever, ya'll it just occurred to me that I didn't tag this klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-01-29 10:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12629166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firespark919/pseuds/Firespark919
Summary: The last thing Lance expected when he turned up for his regular night shift at Altea Brews was to find a beautiful artist with long black hair, deep amethyst eyes, and the most adorable dimples he had ever seen.  And what he expected even less was to suddenly become the model for said artist.  I mean, body painting was always a cool concept to Lance, but he never expected that he would actually get to become a model for it!  And when things started to take a more intimate turn, well, who was he to stop it?





	Paint My Soul

It was a cold winter evening, freezing December air seeping in through the kitchen window. Lance shivered.

"Jesus. Why the hell is the window open?" He muttered under his breath, hooking his arms securely around himself. His eyes shifted around, slowly scanning the front room. They were supposed to leave the front window open at all times - let out the fumes from the coffee, to attract more customers, or whatever- but it was relatively slow tonight, and the only other employee on shift was Pidge, who seemed to be doing her fair share of cursing the air as well. It wasn't as if their boss was just going to pop in on them, either.

Lance sauntered over to the open window, casting one more quick glance around _curse you, paranoia_ , and gently closed it. What he didn't account for, however, was the large bang that would come from the window as it shut, due to the freezing wind from outside slamming it closed. Lance winced, slowly turning around to face Pidge. She was staring at him, eyebrow raised, slowly running a rag through a cup that she was cleaning up. Lance gave her a pleading look.

"What? It's not like any of the other employees actually keep the thing open." He shrugged. "If they don't have to, why should we?" His voice cracked as he laughed nervously, and her hand paused.

"Because, Lance," She sent him a flat look. "We actually know the owner on a personal level, and you know damn well if she found out that you're the one who shut it, you'd be six feet under." She set the cup and rag completely down on the counter in front of her, turning her full attention to Lance.

"The window sticks. Now, if we really do need to have it open for some reason, we are 100% doomed."

"Dude. It's a window, not the end of the world." He stared at the now clean cup on the counter.

Pidge sighed, grabbing the cup back up, and wandering into the back room while still running the rag over the inside of it. He was beginning to think she was only still cleaning it so that she could get out of cashier work. He narrowed his eyes suspeciously at her retreating form.

The rest of the night went by, seemingly without incident, and only a few more people sauntered their way in, ordering double and triple shots of espresso. Lance figured they were probably students, trying to finish up last minute papers, or study for exams. They looked tired enough to be. He should know.

Lance, himself, would've been right there with them, if it weren't for the fact that he was pretty sure any more studying would fry his brain. He was so fucking done with trying to remember why the hell Trigonometry was important, and why Southern and Northern blotting were different. Just thinking about everything had him groaning out loudly and flopping himself down over the counter that he had been previously cleaning.

"Ughhhhhhh." He groaned, rolling his face around, effectively smushing his cheeks into the counter. "Why is life so fucking hard?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. School?" Lance shot up at the unfamilliar voice, eyes doubling size when they landed on the even more unfamilliar face. He frantically looked around, trying to see what else he had missed in his little spasm. All he knew was that there were only two people left sitting at tables, laptops plugged in, and fingers flying, there was brown tuft of hair in the employees only back room, and for some unknown reason, there was the most beautiful fucking being Lance had ever seen, standing right in front of his face, and carrying a conversation with him.

"Shit, sorry!" Lance squeaked, flying backward a few steps. "I thought you were Pidge - uh - my coworker." The man on the other side of the counter just gave an amused half smile, causing his lip ring to shimmer slightly, and Lance could feel the corner of his lip twitching upward. _Oh my god, he has dimples. Why are they that fucking cute? This isn't fair. And why are his piercings so freaking attractive!? Who gave him the right?_ Lance could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, embarrassment flooding his system.

" Uh, anyway, so. I take it you want to order?" _Of course he wants to order, you idiot. Why else would he be here?_ Lance bit his lip, a new type of nervousness taking him over. That seemed to click the stranger out of whatever trance he was in, and he nodded once, scanning over the board on the menu quickly.

"Honestly, I don't even care. Just give me whatever's strongest." Lance nodded, turning to the coffee machine.

"Lord knows I'll need it." The stranger murmured under his breath, catching Lance's attention. He could feel the grin from earlier threatening to burst, and he let it, breathing out a low, melodic laugh.

"School?" He spoke to the stranger, still facing the coffee machine. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the man shake his head.

"I'm actually not in school." _Huh. Well, that's weird._

"You mind if I ask why?" The man seemed to visibly tense at this, so Lance backtracked quickly. "I mean, obviously you don't have to if you don't want to, or anything! I was just a bit curious, is all." He chuckled nervously, turning back to the guy, drink in hand.

"Here's your order, uh..."

"Keith." Lance's face lit up.

"Right! Keith! Here's your order, Keith." He singsonged, turning back to the drink machine, to clean up what little coffee had spilled over. When he turned back, the man from before was sitting at a table in the far back corner, sipping his coffee, and working his fingers away on the keypad of his laptop. Lance hadn't even noticed he brought the thing in with him.

Lance smiled quietly, without even really noticing, and finished up with the counter. By the time he was putting his rag back away, Pidge had come out from the back, broom in hand. They would be closing up in little over half an hour, but there was only one person left, so she was determined to get a head start so that she could leave right on time, if not earlier. She stopped when she got to the space in front of the counter that Lance was leaning on.

"What?" She questioned, furrowing her eyebrows cautiously. Lance looked up from where he had been staring at the counter, mind floating off to space.

"What do you mean, 'what?'" He quirked an eyebrow, head cocking slightly to the left.

"You have this really disgusting look on your face, like something really good just happened." Lance coiled back a bit, feigning hurt.

"What?" He placed a hand to his chest with a fake gasp. "Am I no longer allowed to be happy?"

"With exams coming up? Damn straight." She continued before Lance could even open his mouth. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be, I don't know, studying?" He sighed at her.

"Pidge, for as long as you have known me, how many times have I studied right before finals?" She stayed silent. "Exactly. And how many times have I failed?" Silence, yet again. "Point proven. So, I am going to relax while I have the chance, and stress about finals once they get here." Lance finally shifted his gaze from her face, only to be met with the piercing stare of someone else. Someone silently sipping a coffee at the corner table of the cafe. Someone with unforgivably bright eyes, ripped skinny jeans, and a ruggedly charming red plaid flannel. Someone who was now attempting to listen even closer while still trying not to be caught doing said listening.

He had been silently working at his laptop this entire time, but the conversation Lance and Pidge were having had probably distracted him, hince his staring at the two of them now. Lance knew better than to say anything. This guy was trying to get his work done, and probably didn't want any distractions, but for some reason, Lance was drawn to him. He wanted to talk to him. So, like an idiot, he waved.

Keith seemed to stiffen at the interaction, apparently not realizing he had been caught, and blushed a bright red. Lance just smiled gently. Pidge took note of this, and turned on her heel, determined to find out who Lance had been waving at. Once her eyes landed on Keith, something seemed to click in her face.

"Ohhhhh. So that's why you look so happy." She teased, a slow grin making it's way onto her features. Lance just rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, Pidge. Can't a guy just be happy?"

"Of course. Just not this time." She smirked once again.

"Puh-lease! The dude came in like half an hour ago, and we had one semi-conversation. Other than that, nothing." Lance's voice was taking on a slightly defensive, slightly worried air, and his hand motions were getting more extreme by the second.

"Besides," He looked back at Keith, trying to figure out if he was still listening or not. When it looked like he wasn't, Lance continued. "The dude is waaay out of my league. And, I don't even know what his personality's like. He might be a huge dick, for all I know." Pidge leveled him with a disbelieving stare, but dropped the subject, thank god. Lance sighed, getting a broom from the back room and starting to sweep up the floor behind the counter, taking care of all the ground up coffee beans that always managed to escape, somehow. And before he knew what had hit him, 20 whole minutes had gone by.

Keith was still sitting at his little table in the corner, but everything was all cleaned up, and ready to be shut down. They closed in, like, ten minutes. Lance glanced over at Pidge, and with one look, he could tell that she was completely worn down. He sighed and walked over to her.

"Look, the shop closes in like ten minutes, so it's not that big a deal if you go ahead and leave now." She looked at him, eyes tired, and shoulders drooping.

"And call a taxi. You look like death." She tried to swat at him, but was much to worn out to really do anything other than weakly throw around her limbs. Lance grinned.

"Go on, you little gremlin. I'll close up tonight." She nodded tiredly, half hartedly flipping him off, and headed out the front door, letting in a burst of cold air. Lance shivered, looking over to Keith, who was still huddled over in the corner. The coffee was long gone, leaving only a guy (an infuriatingly handsome guy) sitting at his computer, fingers flying across the keyboard. Lance headed over to him.

"Hey, so, we close up in like ten minutes. Just a little warning." Keith jumped, clearly not expecting a Lance-shaped being to sneak up on him. He gripped his chest, breathing harshly. "Jess christ, you startled me." He breathed out. Lance backed up at bit, holding both his hands up in the air.

"Whoa, sorry man. Didn't mean to scare you." He grinned. "What're you over here working on, anyway?" Lance leaned over Keith's shoulder, eyeing the laptop. Keith just rubbed his eyes, tiredly.

"Trying to get some images finished up for work. Editing's the most frustrating part." He yawned, turning the laptop so that Lance could see the screen. Lance fixed his gaze on the displayed image and...froze.

"Oh my god..." His eyes widened, and he leaned even close to the laptop, eyes moving back and forth across the image at a rapid fire rate.

"Holy shit. This is just... Wow." Lance could barely even breath. This was so fucking impressive.

"Keith, how long have you been doing this for?" He finally tore his eyes away from the screen, to stare at Keith in disbelieving awe. Keith seemed to pause at that.

"Uh... Huh. I don't really know. I would've had to have been older than ten, so... About nine years? I'm not really sure." Lance took a deep breath.

"You mean to tell me that you're only twenty years old, and you're capable of this!?"

"It's really not that big of a deal." Keith muttered, under his breath. Lance laughed out loud at that.

"Yeah! It totally is!" He looked back to the images on screen. There were four pulled up, all framed the same stile, most likely taken in the same space. The background was always pitch black, and there was a sort of black light thing going on. In the first picture, there was a woman holding her hair up, thin wisps of it falling down. Her back was to the camera. She had been coated in a base paint that was neon blue, mixed with splotches of black, to imitate the night sky. Covering her body, there were different colored fireworks.

Her elbows had two that were different colors, one neon green, and the other dark red. She had spirals of fire painted onto her shoulder blades, and bursts of color pouring from every inch of skin. There was a light shining from the other side of her body, illuminating only the very edges of her figure, and effectively making her take on an almost etherial look, like she was glowing. It was an absolute masterpiece.

The second image featured a woman in the exact same pose, except this time, instead of fireworks covering her body, it was a forest. On her hands, beautiful autumn leaves shimmered, branching out all the way down her arms. Her shoulders were adorned with the same pattern, leaves glowing bright, as if they could burst into flames at a moment's notice. In the center of her back, however, there were no leaves. The only thing there was a beautiful, rushing, waterfall, that climbed all the way up her neck, and fell past her hips. the water was a bright blue, with streaks of silver and gold, cascading down dark, worn, rocks.

The third image was a different pose, but the lighting was much the same. The woman held her hair up with her right hand, left one just barely touching her shoulder. Her skin gleamed a pale blue in the black lighting, and tufts of orange spread across the canvas of her back. Goldens and oranges formed together to create an image of the suns dying light, reflecting out upon endless clouds, slowly fading darker and darker the higher they went. From her right hip, leaning down to just past her left was a strip of black, little clumps coming off of it, creating a hillside, littered with small shrubs and bushes. Standing on the hill, looking upward, was the silhouette of a caribou, it's antlers standing tall and proud.

The fourth image was of a woman, both hands holding up wild streaks of midnight blue hair, body turned ever so slightly to the left. Her entire body was coated in midnight blue paint, leaving not an inch of skin unmarked. Tiny white and purple dots coated her body, in mass amounts, such as the starts in the sky. On her back, reaching from her left breast, all the way down to her right hip, was a strip of violet light. It had been painted, and contoured, fading in and out of existence, just like the celestial lights. It was nothing short of beautiful...

Lance's breath came fast in his lungs. _This is incredible. Absolutely amazing. How can Keith not see that?_ He swallowed.

"And, and you're the one who painted all of this?" Keith just nodded.

"Holy shit. that's fucking incredible." He stared once again...

**BZBZBZZZZ**

Lance shrieked, jumping a solid two feet in the air, and stumbling backwards, clutching his hands tightly to his chest. He looked around frantically, trying to figure out where in the hell that sound was coming from. Once he realized that it originated from his phone, which was lying on the counter, he let out a sigh of relief.

Running back to the front counter, he turned off the alarm on his phone, and smiled sheepishly over at Keith, who had seemed just as shaken up over it as Lance had. It was 12:00am, and he definitely needed to be closing up.

After a quick explanation to Keith, he headed back around the counter, and poured another coffee, snapping the lid on. Before Keith could make it out of the door, Lance was handing him the coffee cup, and waving a short goodbye.

Lance bit his lip as Keith left. Though neither of them said it, they both knew they were hoping to see each other again...

**Author's Note:**

> Artwork used for the body paint models on Keith's computer:  
> Picture one:  
> https://i.pinimg.com/736x/09/ef/5d/09ef5d224874a9070a3aa43605490b3b--body-painting-art-body-paintings.jpg
> 
> Picture Two:  
> http://www.ilovebodyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/UV-Body-Painting-Autumn-Falls-John-poppleton.jpg
> 
> Picture Three:  
> https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/galleries/x701/65307.jpg
> 
> Picture Four:  
> https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/sarahs-horsehead-nebula-john-poppleton.jpg


End file.
